In this new showcase I’m featuring four Modern Quilters that you will love!
John MacPhail
I’ve been a maker for as long as I can remember, but I really wasn’t introduced to textiles until I was in university. I was studying theatre at the University of Windsor and discovered my love of costume design. This brought me to the East Coast where I studied costume at Dalhousie University. This is where I learned to sew both in modern and historical costuming techniques. I was introduced to quilting as a technique in one of my courses, but it wasn’t until years after graduating that I would make my first quilt.
After working in the business world for several years, I needed a creative outlet to keep me sane. I decided to have my hand at making a quilt. I was immediately hooked! Six months later, I left my job to become a full time artist.
At first, I was mostly making commissioned quilts and textile pet portraits. I never followed a pattern when making quilts, I always made my own. My background in pattern drafting for the theatre really prepped me for eventually writing quilt patterns. I began to design and write modern and pictorial quilt patterns. It wasn’t long before I was picked up by distributors both in Canada and the US.
My work has always been inspired by animals and humour. I’ve become known for my animal patterns that are often a punchline in themselves, such as cats doing aerobics, dinosaur on roller skates or tigers spitting rainbows. I use a lot of solid fabric in my work that lend to a graphic aesthetic.
Today, under my label of Art East Quilting Co., I release about 6 new patterns a year, teach online workshops and host an annual mystery quilt sew-along.
I currently reside in the ocean in beautiful Cape Breton Island NS with my partner Matt and wiener dogs Dandy and Sidon.
Joey Veltkamp
I have kind of an unusual path to quilting. I consider myself a queer folk artist and art practice began in 1999 when I received a beginner’s oil painting kit as a gift. After making paintings for a few years, I spontaneously migrated to quilting about ten years ago. I often call my pieces ‘soft paintings” because I don’t have as strong a background in the quilting tradition as I do in contemporary art. My mother, my aunt, and my grandmother all sewed though, so I’m pretty sure that’s where the spark came from.
I’m most inspired by my immediate surroundings, which is usually my husband, our home & garden, commutes on the ferry, or walks in nature. We moved from Seattle to a much smaller neighboring town a few years ago and that has been the most inspirational things to happen in a long time.
As mentioned, I’m super susceptible to things around me, and the weather plays a big role in that. Nine months of the year here can get pretty dreary, so by late January, you’re craving anything but the gray, so the color starts to seep in when you’re working in the studio. I like to use lots of bright colors and rainbow motifs because they’re so cheerful. I often use sunrises & sunsets as metaphors for life. I don’t really have one subject – I love to bounce around from landscapes to text pieces to jokes about gay horses.
In my work, I use materials found in our domestic and daily life. I use objects that were donated, thrown away, or acquired at flee markets such as: clothes, sheets, dish towels, tablecloths, old crockery and tiles, etc. That is, objects that were used and loaded with stories and memories. I also use fabrics sourced from textile waste stores and naturally dyed fabrics. My research base is ancestral and popular knowledge, as well as crafts done, in large part, by female hands. I create from the materials I find and from the stories I hear. I love to hear and tell stories, and these stories somehow end up appearing in my works.
Rinat Goren
The challenges of the 2020 pandemic instigated my journey to fiber arts. Otherwise, I am a painter. I paint mostly abstract images using the medium of encaustic (Encaustic is the use of beeswax mixed with pigment). I am fascinated with the process of thinking, understanding, problem-solving and decision-making that is so unique to human beings. Thinking people around me inspire me to explore the subject. I love strong, warm colors as you can guess from looking at my website
However, during the pandemic’s lockdowns, I needed something else. Although I was very prolific in the studio, enjoying the time and the space the lockdowns provided, I needed a different way to respond to and process the fear, the anxiety and the hate that characterized this time. Embroidery was a likely choice; As a child I embroidered often and I feel comfortable with the needle. Fabrics and threads were available at home (one of my favorite things to shop for…) so I picked them up and started playing.
The idea of stitching used teabags was inspired by observation: Used teabags are dyed with beautiful browns, greens and reds depending on the type of tea. I dried the teabags thoroughly and started to stich them together. It was very soothing and satisfying. ‘Quilting” teabags brought me comfort, calm and joy. The repetitive motion was meditative and calming. Working with threads, carefully and mindfully brought memories of sitting together with my mother and grandmother, mending socks and other cloths. The teabags represented a break from routine, a cozy time of respite and reflection. Elevating the mundane act to a creation of art.
